After a year of work, Oklahoma Christian University’s literary and visual arts journal, Soundings, will be unveiled on Friday, April 23 at 7 p.m. at WingsOKC. Due to COVID-19, the event is limited to students, faculty and staff who assisted with the journal or those whose pieces were accepted.
Prizes for poetry, prose, photography and visual art will be announced at the event. First place winners will receive $100, second place winners will receive $50 and third place winners will receive $25. Honorable Mentions will be designated in the journal.
Senior Editor Kellen Welch said the party is the first time people, including most of the staff, will see the journal.
“We actually have all the journals on a table under a tablecloth and then we take the tablecloth off and unveil the journal. For most people, that’s the first time they see the cover,” Welch said.
For Welch, this is the third Unveiling she has attended since last year’s Unveiling was cancelled due to COVID-19. Welch said the event is a way for everyone to celebrate the journal.
“Unveiling is the culmination of everything we have worked on all year long,” Welch said. “It’s a party for the community, but especially for the staff, because we have put in so much work. Unveiling is the chance we get to take to sort of unwind and let everyone enjoy what we worked on. It’s also a chance to celebrate the artists who made it into (the journal).”
The entire process takes months, with many different positions assisting throughout the process. Submissions are processed by the Senior Editor before being reviewed by the entire staff. Once the submissions have been accepted, copyeditors adjust the pieces for formatting and minor errors, while artistic pieces may need to be re-photographed. Throughout the entire process, Soundings hosts events to raise money to publish the journal and distribute it for free.
One of Sounding’s copyeditors Emma Higginbottom said she was excited to see the journal.
“I’m thrilled to see the final product,” Higginbottom said. “Soundings is a fantastic extracurricular; it takes a lot of work and effort to publish the journal, and now it’s time to finally see what we’ve accomplished!”
Welch said the journal personally means a lot to her, as it gives students a chance to express themselves.
“Soundings is an opportunity for everyone to have their voice heard, even and especially including people who are traditionally excluded by the OC experience,” Welch said. “Soundings is really important to me for that reason.”
Welch herself has been published in the journal multiple times, as has much of the staff. Anyone in the Oklahoma Christian community can submit poetry, prose, photography or visual art. Submissions are anonymous to protect the integrity of the judging process and category judging for Unveiling.
This year will be Welch’s last year as Senior Editor before her last semester at Oklahoma Christian. She said Unveiling feels surreal.
“Honestly, I haven’t given myself time to really think about it. I am going to be involved with (Soundings) next semester still until I graduate, so it’s not completely the end of the road for me, but it is weird to think about how I’ve been working towards that for four years, and we’ve almost reached the culmination of that,” Welch said.
For people who cannot attend Unveiling, the winners will be announced Friday night at 8 p.m. through social media. Prize winners who could not attend will be notified through email.
The Soundings staff will distribute journals throughout the following week, including after Language and Literature Chapel on Wednesday, April 28. The journal PDFs will be on the Soundings website on Saturday, April 24 for those who cannot pick up a physical copy.
Welch said those who would like to be on staff could apply through their website. Current positions available include copyeditor, events director, graphic designer and more. Applications close Tuesday, April 27 at noon.
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